Dixie Springs 2 years later

We broke ground on our house on August 28, 2007. I cant believe its been 2 years! I think when we actually broke ground we were the 17th house to start and the 5th family to actually move in, the 3rd that actually lived here full time.

August 18, 2007

August 30, 2009

I love it out here. Sure we are a little isolated but that's one of the things I love about it. Our neighbor is building right now and I have to say it feels weird to have someone building so close. Its invasive almost...although he didn't get a porta potty for a while and the workers were going behind a little dirt hill that they thought was giving them privacy but actually put them in full view of pretty much anywhere in our house-that really was invasive!



Lets reflect on the luxuries that we have now that we didn't have then...

• the Internet
• mail delivery
• a paved road off the hwy
• a school bus stop
• walmart
• park (although that's still not fully done)
• and most of all neighbors!!!!
  

We've come a long way and we want to be here for a long time.

What we wouldn't do to buy the lot behind us so we could build a little casita and stay here forever!


Of course we still have the wind to deal with....

He's getting better

Today I put Beckham down in the great room by the chair. I then put away groceries and noticed he was missing. I went looking for him and saw that Davis' perfectly lined cars in the hallway had a path of destruction right down the middle. I went to our room and didn't find him and then heard a little grunt coming from the playroom. There he was sitting up, happy as can be with a big bucket of hot wheels to chew on. Our boys love their hot wheels, even at this age!

The unfairness of it all...

The collections calls and letters have started again. Not the last one I fought off, this one is new.

This one is worse.

You see this time they actually used Johns birth date to take out this line of credit with the power company. The birth date is Johns but thankfully the SS # doesn't match. Again, we know by some of the other information on it who it really belongs to.

Who knows what SS # was used since we know they have used false SS #'s in the past since they show up on Johns credit report along with all of the collections.

Here is why I'm really mad....

• I offered to give them the contact information of the people who's debt this is. They had the nerve to say to me: we cant just call people unless we can confirm its their debt...ummm then WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME!!!!!

• We know they have used our address, phone number, and now John's birth date to take out lines of credit. We cant protect John until they actually use his SS #. So we cant protect Johns credit until they really tank it in a way that we may never be able to get it all back. Its so backwards and unfair!
  

I'm annoyed

I'm frustrated

I'm done whining

The fight is back on...again!

Someone is desperate to go to school...

As soon as Caleb gets home he kicks off his shoes and backpack where they are quickly confiscated and worn ALL DAY LONG by Davis! He plays in them walks around saying "look at me, I go to school!"

Its pretty cute.

Lucky for him just today my friend and I sat down and worked out our Joy school curriculum and dates. He will love it and I'm so excited to teach!

Guess what Beckham can do...

Just tonight as we were sitting there with some friends John exclaimed, "Lisa look!" and sure enough there was Becks crawling over to a bag he wanted-like actually on his knees crawling! Hes been mobile for a while now but he does more lunge and roll than actually knee crawl until tonight. He demonstrates the lunge well in the video and was a little shy of actually showing you his new skills. I'm pretty sure he will be following me around the house in no time!

How much do I love Deseret Industies....

This is one of those chairs that rock and you can go all the way back. Our boys love it. Plus it makes a pretty cool race car ramp too!

All for the grand total of $16

Just in time for football season!!!

Its a good thing we have stadium chairs since we are going to 2 games!
One in Vegas and then Homecoming in Provo!

We cant wait!

Milestones

• Beckham got himself from his tummy to sitting up all by himself yesterday. He is so close to crawling! He has moved his one knee forward several times and then gives up and lunges for what he wants. He also can go from sitting to his knees.

• I don't know if this is more of a milestone for Mom or Caleb but I let him ride the bus today for the first time to school...with all the big kids. Just my luck the troublemaker on the bus as they are getting on grabs Caleb by the hand and then takes Caleb to sit with him....I watched the bus drive away and choked back the tears. School I can handle, the big kid bus I'm not so sure about!

• Davis is talking so much better. I can now understand everything he says-FINALLY! He sure misses Caleb during the day though. He looks at me and then points to the door and says, "Mom go pick up Caleb at the bus now!"
  

Why is it....

• so hard to adjust to life as a stay at home mom because your life is so unscheduled and then just when you get use to it and love not keeping a regular schedule they expect you to have your kid to school on time- every single day!

• my kids got up by 6:30 or 7:00 ALL summer long but now that school is here and we have to be out the door by 7:45 for Caleb to ride the bus they are all sleeping in until 8:00 when I have to wake them up and then drive Caleb to school!

Seriously!?!

7 years ago I became a wife.

I haven't been shy about the fact that this has been a very hard year for us in our marriage. There is something about bed rest and new baby that does that for us.

The best part about something breaking is being able to put it back together, better than the first time. I feel like that is where John and I are. We are rebuilding and all the areas that needed work before are being repaired in the process.

What we are discovering is a marriage that is more functional, more enjoyable, and more beautiful than before.

I'm grateful that John would never settle for less than blissful happiness. He is willing to work, to listen, and most importantly to change. He wants me to be happy and he wants to be the one providing that.

He is my best friend. This last month has reinforced that more than anything else. Ive wanted to be home more with him. To do nice things for him. To be his soft place to land at the end of a bad day.

7 years ago I became a wife and had no idea what it really entailed. I'm still learning but I have an exeptional teacher who is patient and understanding.

He has his flaws but he loves me for mine too.

Im proud of us babe!

First actual day at school

Without even a backward glance Caleb ran to line up with his class and enter his
first day of school without Mom.

I started to tear up but in a matter of seconds Beckham filled his diaper to bring me quickly back to the moment of what needed to be done.

• Join the PTA- check
• Get medication to office-check
• Get pediatrician to fax medication authorization forms to school-check
• Sign up to volunteer-check
• Turn in emergency contact forms-check
• Figure out bus number, bus stop, and time....ummm UNCHECKED!
  

Today is the second day of school and they still couldn't tell us anything other than the stop he was going to was a trailer park 3 miles away where there are about 10 registered sex offenders living and its a really dangerous left hand turn back onto the highway. I was trying to find the stop before because I was not comfortable with that stop and they couldn't tell me anything. In fact they couldn't tell what buses existed and which didn't!

Long story short: They were having us drive 3 miles when there was a stop a mile from our house. I get the transportation dept to assure me that bus 318 is his bus, it stops at Sand Hallow Rd and Flora tech road at 10:56 today. They did mention at the end of the call that if our kids show up missing, don't worry they will find them but please remain calm!?!

This is 20 minutes before school is out. I ask if the school knows that bus 308 has been replaced with 318 and she says she hasn't had a chance to call them yet. I call the school 5 minutes later to verify she did call and they in fact know what bus our kids are going on. They do- Bus 318.

In rolls bus 318- NO KIDS on it!

Call the school, they don't know where they are!?! Seriously if there ever was a poster story for why we should not have the government run our health care, it would be how they run school transportation! The bus driver of 318 gets on his radio and finds out that bus 308, that no longer exists, has them and is 10 minutes behind 318.

He did FINALLY arrive and he loved the bus!

Can you tell I'm one of those overdramatic first time Moms!

Coral Canyon Elementary

Its here....

Today was Caleb's first Day of school. It was a meet the teacher and get to know the rules and the classroom.

Mrs Thornburg

Mom didn't cry once....but I also didn't leave him so tomorrow may be a different story.

He is ready.

He is going to excel.

I'm so proud of him!

Im finally rid of Beckham!!!

Okay, okay so that title was just to get your attention
BUT I really did lose all of my pregnancy weight!

All 46 pounds of it!

Yea me!!!!

I wanted to do it in 6 months and he will be 7 months this week
so I got pretty close!

Now onto the 10 pounds from building our house....

then the 10 pounds left from Caleb....

then the 10 pounds from getting married....

But its all going to come off so stayed tuned!

SUPER Davis!

Davis also had his 3 year check up this week! He answered all of the Dr's questions and was overjoyed that he didnt have to get any shots.

Weight: 29 pounds
Height: 36 inches

Davis is really losing his "baby fat" and is looking like a little boy. I saw him from across a parking lot where he was walking with John and it took my breath away with how grown up he is looking.

He is trying to learn to share but oh boy its hard with those darn cars! Here is a great example: He had a line of cars and Caleb wanted one. So I told Caleb he could take it while Davis was not there playing and I replaced it with another car. All of a sudden I hear Davis screaming and I walk over and see this....Yes he knew EXACTLY what had happened and he had thrown that offensive car out of line!

Peace was finally restored an hour or so later when Caleb was finally done with it. No joke there were tears and tantrums the whole time that the car was missing and there is NO distracting him!

Let me tell you...he stops foot traffic in stores with those eyes.Hes such a little lover and charmer! I'm really looking forward to one on one time with him when Caleb will be in school and Beckham is having his nap.

Beckhams check up

Beckham has his well baby check up this week.

Weight: 17 pounds 3 oz
Height: 27 inches long
Head: 17.75 inches

I just cant believe how fast hes growing up! He is more than half way to not being a "baby" anymore!

He sits all by himself now without his arms supporting him.

He is on his knees about half the time he is on the ground, rocking back and forth. He might be our latest crawler but it looks like hes going to do it normal!


He is also our latest teether. Caleb got teeth at 4 months, Davis at 5. His teeth are loaded and you can tell hes in a lot of pain they just wont break through!

He now eats two "meals" a day and loves his Baby Mum Mums. He shakes with anticipation when he sees them. He does not have the patience for the little puffs!


He is starting to get more attached to Mom and Dad and gets upset if he sees us walk out of the room. He is entirely overjoyed with his brothers though and goes wild when he first sees them in the morning, so wild in fact that I almost couldn't hold him.


Water is still his favorite place to hang out weather it be the tub or the pool. He always wants to be on his tummy in the tub so he can splash and kick...he still gulps in water and almost makes my heart stop!

Oh yeah, yesterday he rode in a shopping cart at Costco all by himself!

More Camping Pictures...

It was so fun to camp with Johns brother Chris and his family.
We sure do make 'em cute in this family!

The boys loved Samantha as you can see...

This is Ashley our newest little niece! She has the best little smile!

Davis was all over the trucks! And if anyone dared to try to touch them he was all over them! Sharing...is not going so well for Davis right now.

The boys loved the water...especially Beckham!

Ahhh...

Chris has a kite that you can wakeboard behind. There wasn't enough wind until the end and then John hooked himself up just to try it out on land.

It was great until he took a fall.
The best part (well, for me at least) was that as soon as he got up from his fall the wind really picked up and the kite took off and all I saw was John half running/half jumping/half flying just trying to make it to the water so he didnt wipe out on the rocks!

THE trailer and little Beckham boy

I'm feeling renewed today. We had a good relaxing weekend, I read a book, and just vegged and got the house mostly together. Everything looks better with a clean and organized house!

So when I was little my parents bought THE tent trailer. Some of my earliest memories are in it. We camped a lot when I was little. My parents almost got rid of it in my senior year of high school but I threw a fit because I wanted it! Well....it took a few years for us to get a car that could tow it but I'm so grateful my parents made the sacrifice of keeping it because we took it camping and it was heaven! Its so nice to have a place away from the bugs, a comfortable place to sleep, a stove, running water, a fan, a blender, and all of the other little things you would normally have to live without while camping!

who doesn't dream of a kitchen like this...

or curtains like these...

You couldn't plan out retro like this trailer, seriously its a 1968. If you think I'm being sarcastic, I'm not. I love it! Don't believe me...ask John my response to him saying it would be cool to revamp the inside!

I cant wait for many more happy trips!

I also had to add to this post our little Beck's newest skill...


okay so it actually goes more like this...





But he should still get props on the blog for trying!

PS. Did you notice he has gone blond!